The preferred embodiments relate to mass transit of compartments for goods and people and more particularly facilitate delivery and withdrawal of such compartments with respect to mass transit vehicles, such as railway systems.
The use of railway systems in mass transit has a long history and continues to evolve, with certain considerations for whether the transit is of goods or passengers. Railway transit has numerous benefits, including reliability, safety, speed, flexibility, limited ground consumption for rail lines, and the proven ability to transport millions of tons of goods and people in a wide variety of regions.
The present inventor has recognized, however, that preferred embodiments may facilitate a profound improvement in mass transit, such as in railway systems. Particularly, the preferred embodiments implement a system that permits controlled, systematic, and efficient delivery and withdrawal of compartments, for either goods or passengers, into a railway system by way of example. The preferred embodiment system may vastly reduce energy needs of existing railway systems in that the compartment movement may be achieved by allowing the railcars to continue to move at either an existing or reduced speed, but in any event without requiring the railcars in the railway system to come to a stop. As a result, considerable savings are anticipated in energy and other resources, where such savings otherwise are diminished or lost in current railway systems that are with some frequency required to stop, so as to load goods or passengers to/from the railway cars. Further, the preferred embodiment system may profoundly affect the manner in which persons or goods are distributed to and from the railway, so as also to provide greater efficiencies in travel and scheduling.
Still other benefits will be appreciated by one skilled in the art, given an understanding of the discussion below.